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Reuters 26 August 2012 13:30 (BJT)

YAN'AN - The death toll from an expressway collision between a bus and a tanker
in northwest China has risen to 36, local police said Sunday.

The accident happened at around 2 a.m. in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, when a double-decker
sleeper bus crashed into a methanol-loaded tanker and caught fire.

Only three out of the 39 people on board the bus survived, but they all suffered injuries.
The driver of the bus also died, police said.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.



The 39-seat bus was full at the time of the crash, which occurred about 200 meters from
Huaziping service station on the Baotou-Maoming expressway linking northern China's Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province in the south.

The driver and passenger of the tanker, who were not hurt, were taken into police custody,
said officials with the Yan'an municipal government.

The bus was registered in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region while the tanker in central
China's Henan Province.